With technology taking up space in our everyday lives, it has also taken up residency in the world of art. The best canvas size for digital art is very important these days, depending on where you will showcase your work.
Back then, the only way to show art online was to scan or take photos of your physical art. But now, you can make art using technology—artists are trading in pen and paper with drawing tablets.
Digital art definitely has its own pros and cons as compared to traditional art. One difference between the two is, digital art has technical aspects to it, such as choosing the right software or getting the right file size.
One of the most important things you need to learn to start your digital art journey is the canvas size.
Digital Art Canvas Size
The canvas size is the area in which you will work when using a tablet or computer to create art. Much like in traditional art, you get to choose the right canvas for your work, depending on your vision. It’s kind of the same with digital art but aside from your vision, you also need to take into account where you will showcase your work.
If you use a canvas that is way too small for your intent, then you will be left with a pixelated or blurry image. In the same way that if you have a canvas that is way too big for the platform you will post it on, the file will automatically compress and result in a low-quality image.
You can start off with a canvas size at 1920 x 1080 px but you can always go bigger or change it up depending if you want to work on landscape or portrait.
Best Canvas Size for Digital Art Printing
Do you plan on printing your digital art? If that’s the case, you can always choose paper sizes for printing for your canvas. When you open your digital art program or software, open a new canvas and set the paper size you will use (e.g. A3, A4, letter, legal).
Check out printers ideal for art prints and digital art
Aside from the size of the canvas, you also have to set the dpi. The higher the dpi, the better your output will look. You can set it to 300dpi but if you have a lot of details, then you might need to increase it.
Best Canvas Size for Digital Art for Social Media Posting
When it comes to posting on social media, platforms have different sizes. This doesn’t mean you have to create new art for each site you have or will post on. The best thing to do is to start with a large canvas size (2000 x 1200 px will do) and then adjust the image accordingly, depending on the social media site.
There are, of course, social media sites that will automatically crop or resize your image. All you need to do is to make sure you have the right dpi or pixels so your artwork will still look good.
Here are some of the most popular social media platforms where you can post your digital art:
Posting your digital art on Facebook is a great way to be seen. It also doesn’t hurt when people leave hearts or thumbs-up reactions to your work. The best canvas size for Facebook posts is 1200 x 628 px if it has a landscape orientation or 1080 x 1350 px if it has a portrait orientation.
- Profile Picture
If you want to use your artwork for the profile picture, the px requirement is pretty low at 170 x 170 px. Just make sure your art is on a square canvas.
However, you should also take note that on posts or ads, the profile picture will come in a circular shape, effectively cutting the sides of the image. So, if you usually sign your name at the bottom right corner of your work, this won’t be seen on your profile picture for posts and ads.
- Cover Photo
The cover photo is rectangular in shape, like a banner, and is an excellent space to showcase artworks. The minimum requirement for canvas size for the cover photo on Facebook is 400 x 150 px. Although, this will be displayed as 820 x 312 px on computers and 640 x 360 on mobile phones.
Back when Instagram was just starting off, users had no choice but to adjust their images to a square size. Today, you can upload digital art still using the same square size, 1080 x 1080 px. But also have the option for portrait or landscape orientation. The best canvas size for Instagram digital art is either 1080 x 1350 px or 1350 x 1080 px.
- Stories
Are you just trying to make a teaser for your upcoming art showcase? Maybe you are featuring your limited edition artworks? Stories on Instagram is a good platform as it only appears for 24 hours.
The actual dimension of an Instagram Story is 1920 x 1080, it takes up the whole screen. But your Instagram profile photo appears at the top while messaging tools are at the bottom, which can initially cover up parts of your uploaded image. So, do make some space for those, unless you can creatively integrate them into your Stories.
The microblogging app Twitter is also a good place to post digital art. This site requires a minimum canvas size of 1200 x 675 px. If you are posting multiple photos on one tweet, images will be cropped if it exceeds the canvas size. However, the entire image is viewable once clicked.
- Profile Picture
Unlike Facebook, Twitter profile pictures will always have a circular shape. This way, you can better prepare your artwork to fit exactly into your profile. The size should be 400 x 400 px.
- Header
Twitter’s header is pretty much like a cover photo on Facebook but it has less space. It’s perfect for rectangular digital art, the canvas size for this should be 1500 x 500 px.
Final Tips for Getting the Best Canvas Size for Digital Art
It’s important to always stay updated on the best practices when it comes to digital art. There are times when social media platforms change up their requirements or posting sizes (like when Instagram ditched their square photo restriction).
When it comes to the best canvas size for digital art, opt for a larger one that you can scale to a smaller size. It’ll be harder to blow up a small canvas to reach the minimum requirements.